Poaching is literary referred to as the actual rudimentary act of hunting, trapping and killing of animals for personal gains. Several animals are normally killed for meat, skin and hides, selling for other gains like ivory from elephants that is used as a raw material in the making of various things especially ornaments. Animals that fall prey to this act include elephants, buffaloes, antelopes, hippopotamuses, crocodiles and hogs among others. Of recent, this act has taken another twist as many people especially those around national parks have resorted to this act as a way of raising their personal enrichment. Did you know that even primates like gorillas fall into snares that are set up by pocahers? This means that we need to help combat poaching if we need to promate sustainable tourism in Uganda.
Kasese in Uganda is home to Queen Elizabeth national park, Mount Ruwenzori national park and Kibale national parks – making it one of the key tourist destinations. But poaching threatens the animals. To make matters worse, this act is orchestrated by the people that are entrusted with the work of masterminding the security of these animals –Park rangers .They normally escort the poachers and as well kill for them these animals all in the name of bribery. Most of these park rangers engage in this awful act purposely because of poor payment versus the salivating bribery offered to them by the intending poachers.However, after indulging in this act, they normally take off in fear of arrest and losing their jobs. A live example is the recently arrested poachers in Kibale national park who confessed to the authorities that they are normally helped by the actual park rangers to get the elephants that they normally kill for ivory which has a ready market in the neighboring country of South Sudan. Poachers normally employ the wrath of guns and bullets bought and hired from the private guards that are affiliated to the security companies that operate within these areas.
In the midst of all this, Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) is not seating on their laurels. This authority has beefed up the number of rangers, improved the technology and the communities around with the parks sensitized about the dangers of poaching. There is an ongoing campaign to educate communities living near game parks that animals are better alive than on your plate. This is evidenced by the 20% of the earning from tourism levies that UWA ploughs back to them to make their lives better in form of improved infrastructures like roads, schools and hospitals around them. The authority has also gone ahead to train more than750 new rangers in addition to 80 others trained by UPDF to burst and prevent crime. On the ground, there is 24-hour surveillance and collaboration with other security organs like Interpol and the Internal Security Organization.
This is due to the fact that the racket of poachers is armed and fast when transacting business. They kill and deliver their product so fast from the point the crime was committed.However, UWA has ordered for machines that can differentiate types of meat simply because Currently when one is arrested with meat, they go free because no way one can prove it is wild game meat especially antelopes and buffalos whose meat is commensurate to any other domestic animal meat.
Currently the worst hit area is Murchison Falls National Park because of its swelling refugee populations from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo where poachers have devised sophisticated tools to carry on their evil works of killing wildlife with much ease. Poachers who are only interested in meat use traps while those targeting elephants for ivory use rifle. Recently, five poachers were found with firearms and immediately arrested for allegedly poaching animals from Karuma wildlife reserve Murchison Falls conservation area. They were picked from Oyam, Nwoya and Kiryandongo and later taken to Kiryandongo police station where it was ascertained that over ten rounds of ammunition were loaded in their rifles including an 18-year-old lad. Therefore what kind of adults are we destined to have in future with such teenagers!
The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) has asked the Government to amend the Wildlife act and introduce stiff penalties of fines not less than sh200m and a 20 years’ imprisonment sentence for poachers and traffickers of wildlife and its products. The fines should be equivalent to the value of the products they traffic, and these fines should not be less than sh200m.It is further stressed that Offenders should pay highly for trafficking wildlife. If we do not make their environment harsh, all wildlife traffickers from neighboring countries where there are stringent penalties will end up in Uganda.
It should however be noted that in East Africa, it is only Uganda that has no stringent penalties against wildlife traffickers, and this is making most of the offenders from other countries like Kenya where penalties are tough given that last year their President Uhuru Kenyatta signed the Wildlife and Conservation Management Plan which provides for substantially higher fines, confiscation of property and longer prison terms to come to Uganda and engage in the vice.
This has triggered the President Yoweri Museveni to direct border security along Kidepo National Park in north eastern Uganda to shoot armed poachers especially those with guns who cross to disturb simply because people are accusing the army of not doing their work.
It is also understood that that pockets of armed poachers – the Tipeth from South Sudan and Turkana from Kenya – keep crossing into the parks to kill animals, destroy crops and, sometimes, kill people. It is on this background that poaching will become history in Uganda after the implementation of such stringent laws and communities are to use the revenues they get from the parks to invest in decent accommodation for the tourists, grow crops in the communities to feed themselves and engage in artisanship to promote crafts as souvenirs.
